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- All in a day’s work
- It's this man's world - The Vail Trail by Randy Wyrick
- The Blue Grotto - Tuesday, March 27, 2007
- Review by Richard Sheppard from PaperbackNovel.com
- Royalty and diplomacy - Washington Times - December 5, 2006
- From Publishers Weekly
- From The Economist - Economist Books - December 2, 2006
- From the Newsdesk of ITV Channel Online.TV By Nigel Soane-Sands. November 23, 2006.
- University of Denver: Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East holds luncheon lecture with author William Simpson.
- The Powerbroker by Jane Ridley
- Amazon Review by Richard Stoyeck
- A Royal Book Party, Minus Its Subject: The Saudi Prince
- Washington Post Book Review
- Maximum Impact Public Relations, LLC by Max Pulsinelli
- Bandar: Royally popular - The Washington Times Published October 20, 2006
- International Lawyer Coach Blog
- Blackwell Books Online - About "The Prince."
- The Operator - Saudi Arabia's longtime ambassador sidled up close to Washington's elite -- perhaps too close.
All in a day’s work
In “The Prince,” William Simpson explains how Prince Bandar’s reach extends to some of the most important events of our time:
How Bandar helped President Reagan win a Senate vote that not only secured the sale of Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft for Saudi Arabia but concealed from Capitol Hill the true scope of a massive defense contract with the Kingdom – a covert $50 billion plan to build U.S. proxy military bases in Saudi Arabia.
How Pope John Paul II, President Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher and Crown Prince Fahd conspired to prevent the communists winning the Italian elections in 1983, with Bandar personally depositing $10 million in cash into the Vatican Bank.
How Bandar, helped by Rafik Hariri, negotiated a cease-fire during the Lebanese Civil War, with a detailed account of how Bandar outwitted President Assad to complete his mission.
How Bandar developed an intimate friendship with the First Lady Nancy Reagan, allowing him as a foreign diplomat to influence the selection and resignation of key cabinet members of the Reagan Administration.
How Bandar became the biggest arms dealer in history, acquiring hundreds of billions of dollars of military hardware, U.S. aircraft, Chinese missiles and the vast Al-Yamamah contract that still runs today.
How Bandar devised an innovative oil barter financial structure for the massive Al Yamamah defense contract with the UK for the purchase British, French and U.S. weapons systems — blindsiding Capitol Hill and OPEC.
How Bandar tricked the National Security Agency into revealing satellite over-flight times, allowing the Saudis to conceal Bandar’s purchase of nuclear-capable Chinese missiles for two years.
How Bandar, at the request of Saddam Hussein and in support of the United Nations, negotiated an end to the eight years Iran-Iraq War, a role never previously revealed.
How, during a meeting with President Gorbachev, Bandar delivered an ultimatum on behalf of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which secured Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
How, when deceived by Saddam Hussein over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait — Bandar leaked a copy of President Bush’s private letter of ultimatum to Saddam via the London Sunday Times, ensuring that Saddam — because of loss of face — could not withdraw his forces from Kuwait, thus ensuring that U.S. and coalition forces would go to war.
How Bandar responded to charges of Saudi participation in Sept. 11 and support for al-Qaida, and examines measures taken within the Kingdom to control charitable donations, religious hatred emanating from Madrassas and to support the global war on terrorism.
It's this man's world
Prince Bandar’s reach extends all the way to Eagle County
Randy Wyrick, rwyrick@vailtrail.com
May 12, 2007
"The Prince" – The Secret Story of the World’s Most Intriguing Royal Prince Bandar bin Sultan – By William Simpson
It’s no coincidence that a biography about Prince Bandar carries the same title as Machiavelli’s book.
They both influenced world events in their respective times as few others ever have. Few others have come so far from such humble beginnings.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the illegitimate son of a Saudi Prince and a servant girl, has become one of the most powerful men in the modern world through his behind-the-scenes brokering of international political deals and through leveraging relationships with world leaders.
Through his political impact as the Saudi Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005 — and his privileged position as a trusted confidant to some of the world’s most influential world leaders, including presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush — Bandar’s is global. He influences your life, whether you know it or not.
Author William Simpson reveals how closely involved the Saudi Prince is with international policy and decision making, even within the halls of the White House and the United States Congress. Simpson regales readers with anecdotes that detail how Bandar played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair; convinced Mikhail Gorbachev to withdraw from Afghanistan; shared a table with Nelson Mandela and Muammar Qaddafi to bring the Lockerbie bombers to justice; and helped negotiate an end to the Iran-Iraq war.
Simpson chronicles how Bandar rose from a fighter to a powerful diplomat, and he explores Bandar’s contributions to Middle East and world peace, as well as recent controversies surrounding his name.
“He can vary from being the most charming, charismatic person anyone could possibly hope to meet, to something other than that,” Simpson said in an interview during a book tour in the Roaring Fork Valley. “He’s Machiavellian in the truest sense of the word.”
Prince Bandar completed his postgraduate work in several U.S. military schools, including staff courses with the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., and with the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair in Wash., D.C. He received his master’s degree in international public policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1980.
Bandar has been involved in most of the major political stories of the past 30 years.
He understood that anyone going into a conflict in the Middle East, such as Iraq, must go in with sufficient force to do what’s necessary. It was advice he gave world leaders before the U.S. became involved in Iraq.
“He was anxious to see Saddam Hussein go,” Simpson said. “He was duped by Saddam Hussein, who then invaded Kuwait.”
He was close to President Reagan and helped bring down communism by bringing down the price of oil. That denied the Soviets the cash they needed to compete with the U.S. arms buildup.
Simpson is British, retired from the British military and had dabbled in writing novels. He has known Bandar for 30 years, since Bandar was a young Arab who wanted to be a pilot and was trying to get command of the language.
Simpson was invited to a reunion of that military unit when he chanced upon Bandar. It didn’t take long for Simpson to realize he was in the company of a man who could change world events, and the subject of a biography worth reading and writing.
In preparing the biography, Simpson did 70 interviews with Bandar, who owns a ranch in the Roaring Fork Valley, and his closest friends and read 200 books about him.
He talked to three presidents and three Secretaries of State.
“Their regard for him was amazingly high. They held in the same high regard as other world leaders,” Simpson said. “Ambassador was far form the role he played. Nelson Mandela gave me two hours of his time in Capetown. Margaret Thatcher was pleased to talk about him.”
They both wrote forwards for the book. Mandela called Bandar one of the greatest diplomats and peacemakers in our time.
If you’re looking for timelines of international events, look at CNN. What you take away from “The Prince” is that as much as anything else, Bandar has some stories, and Simpson tells them well.
“Someone reading the book could get a better idea of the Middle East by watching how the elements of the stories and anecdotes fit together,” Simpson said.
Some are flattering, some are not; all are informative and illuminating.
“Does he like it? Some of it. I write his character as I saw it,” Simpson said. “He allowed me to write is as I found it.”
The Blue Grotto - Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Here's a Book on a Fascinating Guy. . . .
The Prince
By William Simpson
This is the story of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, illegitimate son of Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud (one of Fahd and Abdullah's brothers) and a servant girl. Overcoming his second-class status within the royal family, he pushed to become a star Royal Saudi Air Force fighter pilot and eventually the powerful Ambassador to the United States for over two decades.
The author is one of Bandar's buddies from his training days at Cranwell in England, so the book is quite biased, with scarcely a real criticism. Nonetheless, it's a pretty interesting look into high-stakes, behind-the-scenes dealmaking around the globe over the last thirty years. Bandar was at the center of countless negotiations during the Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II presidencies. He's a masterful diplomat, and I am sure he must be an awesome poker player.
As a servant of his beloved Kingdom, Bandar of course often found himself at odds with Israel and the U.S.'s Middle East policies, but the evidence convinces me that he is a good man who genuinely desires peace in the Middle East. He despises the radical Islam that promotes terror, and he may be a key figure in speeding up internal cultural reforms in Saudi Arabia. He also loves the United States, as a representative of his country and as a man.
One powerful anecdote from the book tells of Bandar, as a young pilot, having a blast at a party in England with another young man he took to be an American. When he found out later in the evening that the man was Israeli, he said that he felt an immediate change inside himself from affection to hatred. However, he also quickly said to himself, "This can't be right. This doesn't make sense." It was an important event in shaping his views on the Middle East.
Another good sign is that everyone, and I mean everyone, loves this guy. He is respected by diplomats and politicians of all stripes, even those across the table from him. He also stays in close, close touch with his classmates from Cranwell and his early flying buddies, who make up his circle of best friends.
Anyway, it's a great look into the tedious, sensitive negotiations that never make the papers (and, by the way, into how clueless and idiotic Sandy Berger and Madeleine Albright are).
I give this book a B, but I'm glad I read it.
Royalty and diplomacy - Washington Times - December 5, 2006
Editorials/Op-Ed
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Martin Sieff
Washington Times.
December 5, 2006
From the start of the Reagan administration through the first Gulf War, the most important,
powerful and successful diplomat in the world was Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi
ambassador to the United States. He remains a profoundly significant global player today.
William Simpson has produced an exceptionally valuable and sympathetic, but nuanced and fair portrait of this remarkable man. Mr. Simpson, who is British, is a lifelong friend of Prince Bandar's since their days together in officer training at the British Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, but his work does not read as a hagiography. Instead, the book benefits from Mr. Simpson's deep personal knowledge of this complex, talented and multilayered man.
Prince Bandar's achievements, international credibility and continuing global clout are extraordinary, and transcend the normal definitions of political and international relations analysis. What other current or recent diplomat could expect to find two world leaders as disparate as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain and former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to provide glowing and appreciative forwards to a book on his life?
Prince Bandar, as Mr. Simpson documents in immense detail, was the key linchpin of the Saudi-U.S. alliance of the 1980s that transformed the world and played a leading role in the toppling of international communism and the fall of the Soviet Union.
The alliance was also the essential underpinning and prerequisite for the tremendous, world-transforming American economic recovery and unprecedented boom of the 1980s and 1990s. It ensured a cheap, reliable supply of oil to the industrialized world. Mr. Simpson makes an overwhelming case for his contention that the Reagan administration was able to win the Cold War thanks to the flow of Saudi petrodollars financing crucial intelligence operations and political initiatives around the world.
Prince Bandar was also a consummate political operator. Mr. Simpson describes him as Machiavellian. In a sense this may be unfair to a man who was and remains a committed patriot and servant of his country, who was also committed to an enduring alliance with the United States and who opposed both Communist and extreme anti-Western Islamist forces.
But it is a fitting term to describe the skills and political shrewdness with which Prince Bandar operated. He always took the long-term view but was also adept at handling short-term tactical crises. He ranks with former Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during the early 1970s as arguably the most successful and important foreign diplomat to serve in Washington over the past half century.
Mr. Dobrynin proved exceptionally skilled at fighting a rearguard action for Soviet influence and providing his government with able assessments of the reviving United States during the Reagan years. But Prince Bandar did far more. Like Mr. Rabin when he was Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's ambassador to Washington during the Nixon administration, Prince Bandar transformed the strategic prospects for his country almost single-handedly by the way he was able to negotiate cooperation on major issues for his own nation and the one to which he was accredited.
Anti-Western extremists who also wanted to topple the House of Saud hated - and still hate - Prince Bandar with a passion. A major strategic goal of the al Qaeda mega-terror attacks of September 11 was to discredit the Saudi government and leadership in the eyes of the American public and body politic, and in the short term they succeeded far too well.
In addition to its other major virtues, Mr. Simpson's book is invaluable at discrediting and disproving the worst anti-Saudi conspiracy theories that have been circulated far too widely with far too much credulity over the past five years. At a time when U.S.-Saudi relations are again on the upswing, with both nations deeply worried about the regional challenge posed by a potentially nuclear armed Iran and the growing chaos in Iraq, "The Prince" is essential reading for this section alone.
But it is far, far more than that. Every foreign diplomat in Washington and every career official and political appointee in the State Department should read this book as an essential primer on how one of the most successful members of their profession in modern times got the job done. This is the best street-smart, experience-based assessment discussion of the art of diplomacy I have read since former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's famous work on the same subject.
Highly recommended.
Martin Sieff, a former reporter for The Washington Times, is national security correspondent for United Press International and Managing Editor of International Affairs.
From Publishers Weekly
Saudi Arabian prince Bandar Bin Sultan emerges in this biography by Simpson, a long-time friend of Bandar's, not only a figure well-connected and well-placed among public and private power structures, but a super-man who melds his incredible wealth with savoir faire, razor-sharp pragmatism and a disarming sense of humor.
With an intensely loyal coterie of confidantes in many countries, Bandar is described as "an expert at playing the long game," who used Saudi Arabia's status as a crucial ally to the West-among "seven volatile, militaristic countries, Saudi Arabia is the fulcrum of leadership in the Muslim world, and sits on nearly two thirds of the world's oil supply" - to leverage a starring role in a multitude of fascinating, high-stakes political gambits.
Marred in its early pages by a yawn-inducing array of Arabian arms deals, Simpson's chronicle thankfully shifts focus to the decades when, as Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., Bandar wrangled, finagled and influenced policy with the aid of presidents and historical notables.
Especially riveting tales feature Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and the first president Bush, in which all parties participate in an intricate diplomatic dance-at times skirting the brink of international disaster-while wars raged throughout the Middle East. In this lengthy account, Bandar plays his role with as much aplomb as the infamous Machiavelli, but with far more humanity. 16-page color insert, b/w photos throughout.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From The Economist - Economist Books - December 2, 2006
Few figures are as loathed by the Islamists as the liberal princes; in particular Prince Bandar, the shrewd, worldly ex-fighter pilot who was for over 20 years his country's ambassador in Washington. Remarkably, he became a successful one-man lobby in a pro-Israeli city. His trick was to identify his country's interests with America's, both as an oil supplier and as a cold war ally ever ready with petrodollars for the anti-communist cause.
Besides, Americans couldn't help liking the "un-Saudi Saudi" who smoked big cigars and was an ardent fan of the Dallas Cowboys. For George Bush senior, he became one of the family. The Bandar story is remarkable.... If the book is to be believed, Bandar's role in clinching arms deals, putting out Arab fires and pursuing peace was even more central, and more Machiavellian, than the world had realised.
The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. By William Simpson. Regan; 496 pages; $32.50.
From the Newsdesk of ITV Channel Online.TV By Nigel Soane-Sands. November 23, 2006.
An Alderney resident, Bill Simpson, has just returned from the high profile and highly successful launch of his first book described by Nelson Mandela in the foreword as “a fascinating and accomplished story of a man of principle, a diplomat of astonishing calibre, and one of the greatest peacemakers of our time”.
Bill’s much acclaimed book “The Prince” is the biography of Prince Bandar Bin Sultan and a riveting portrait of one of the most enigmatic yet influential powerbrokers in America. Margaret Thatcher describes Prince Bandar, who was the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005, in the book’s foreword as “a man for our times, who has been at the very heart of world events for two decades and whom I am proud to call a friend”.
58-year old Bill Simpson met Prince Bandar at Cranwell College when they were young RAF officers under training. Bill served for 25 years rising to Wing Commander and receiving an OBE, before pursuing a career in the city from which he retired, just a year ago, for health reasons.
It was then Bill considered writing and, with the blessing of Prince Bandar, the biography took shape and took Bill through doors to some of the world’s most influential political figures such as Mandela and Thatcher, Presidents Bush, Carter and Clinton, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger and Roberta Flack.
Within this “secret story of the world’s most intriguing royal” are - among many eye-openers - accounts of Bandar’s direct involvement with winning the Cold War with Saudi petrodollars, with the Iran-Contra affair, with Gorbachev’s withdrawal of Soviet military from Afghanistan, and with negotiating an end to the Iran-Iraq war.
The book “The Prince” is published by Regan Media, an imprint of Harper Collins. ENDS
University of Denver: Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East holds luncheon lecture with author William Simpson.
“Shaping U.S. Policy in the Middle East: The role of Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia”
By Nicole VanVeen November 6, 2006
Author William Simpson gave a talk on his recent book, The Prince: The Secret Story of the World’s Most Intriguing Royal, and his friend Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Simpson painted a picture of a driven man who gained the trust of government officials and politicians throughout the world, orchestrating countless behind-the-scenes international transactions.
Through many anecdotes, he also showed Prince Bandar to be charismatic and a joker, as well as a person who seeks cooperation, especially between the world’s three major religions. Mr. Simpson concluded his talk after taking questions from audience members.
The Powerbroker by Jane Ridley - From The New York Daily News
If anybody could get away with the words "international man of mystery" on a résumé, it's Prince Bandar, the charismatic Saudi Arabian royal who served as ambassador to the U.S. from 1983 to 2005. This in-depth biography of the megarich 57-year-old powerbroker chronicles his relatively unpromising beginnings as the illegitimate son of a polygamous Bedouin prince and a teenage maidservant to his fast track in the inner circles of Washington, D.C., after a glamorous career flying fighter jets in the Royal Saudi Air Force.
It highlights the remarkable behind-the-scene roles that Bandar - a close friend of both George W. Bush and his father, and known as "The Arab Gatsby" - repeatedly assumed in key political events across the globe. They range from the ending of the Cold War and the handing over by Colonel Moammar Khadafy of the Lockerbie bombing suspects to the bitter fallout of Sept. 11, when 15 of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists proved to be Saudi nationals, creating a public relations nightmare for a country with such lucrative trade links to the U.S.
According to the book, Bandar, who is equally at home wearing beautifully tailored Italian designer suits as much as traditional Arab robes, had a hand in almost every dealing between America and the Middle East, particularly the shadier ones like weapons sales, the Iran-Contra affair and the planned establishment of U.S. military bases on Islam's most sacred land. It also addresses a controversy that Michael Moore obsesses about in his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," when Bandar persuaded Bush to allow members of the Saudi royal family and relatives of Osama Bin Laden to be airlifted from America immediately after the attacks.
The author, William Simpson, occasionally compares Bandar's wheeling and dealing to that of the famous manipulator Machiavelli, but he appears to have been seduced himself. The two were classmates at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, England, and Simpson's fascination for his subject occasionally smacks of a schoolboy idolizing the football captain.
Bandar was at pains not to "authorize" the book, but agreed to be interviewed and encouraged his friends, associates and family to fully cooperate. Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher both write forewords.
Amazon Review by Richard Stoyeck
William Simpson's book on Prince Bandar is requisite reading if Americans are to begin to understand Saudi Arabia. This is the critical country in the Middle East, and the world's dominant oil producer. Understand that Simpson the author is a personal friend of long-standing with Bandar, having attended together the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, England many years ago. The Prince has publicly blessed this book. This tells you that this is an authorized biography, which means Bandar has edited every page. He's managing his image, and I must say quite well after reading it.
Bandar's money and fingerprints were all over the Iran-Contra scandal that could have conceivably brought down Ronald Reagan's Administration. It certainly tarnished Reagan's government, and ruined the last 2 years of his Presidency. You need to know about these events, and Bandar's connection to them…Bandar is a man that has moved in very powerful circles. He was the ultimate power player displaying a persona based on public myth while the whole time operating under different private realities. There were only two people in the world that had power over this man who was the illegitimate son of Prince Sultan and a servant. The book talks about these two men in detail.
Bandar's father was the Saudi Arabian Defense Minister during the early 1960's. It was his grandmother who was the widow of King Abdulaziz that recognized the boy's talent. Bandar had a fabulous personality, truly charismatic. When he is in the room, you know someone special is around. It was this charisma that endeared him to King Fahd who controlled Saudi Arabia with an iron fist for decades.
King Fahd was his mentor, and Bandar wielded enormous influence over the King. After all, it was Bandar that lived overseas all those years doing the King's bidding, and in return influencing what that bidding might be by the advice he rendered to the King…He was the ULTIMATE MIDDLEMAN.
This is why you must read this book…you can't help but get a feel as to who and what Bandar is. You also get a feel for Saudi Arabia, and the power game they play… This is why you have to spend the time to understand the Prince, and the culture he comes from. Saudi Arabia is a lifeline for us. Without their oil, the oxygen would be sucked right out of our economy. Bandar has INFLUENCE.
Read the book. It's a great read about a man of many faces.
A Royal Book Party, Minus Its Subject: The Saudi Prince
By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Washington Post.
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page C03
The invitation was gold-embossed, the setting the magnificent Great Hall at the Library of Congress, and the hors d'oeuvres and wine flowed freely. Celebrity publisher Judith Regan made a rare appearance in Washington to flack her new tome ("It's better than any James Bond novel"). And Nelson Mandela sent accolades.
Quite an unusual rollout for a first-time author, William Simpson , who decided five years ago he could write a book about this guy he went to school with. Still, Tuesday's book party for "The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal, Prince Bandar bin Sultan " lacked a certain something -- namely, the charismatic title character.
Bandar is best known as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, a position he held from 1983 to 2005. Other books have questioned the Saudi envoy's extraordinary influence on U.S. foreign policy and friendship with the Bush family. This one portrays him as a charming and pragmatic diplomat; Margaret Thatcher and Mandela both wrote forewords.
Margaret Thatcher and Mandela both wrote forewords.
"They call him Bandar Bush," noted Simpson. Bandar didn't formally contribute to the unauthorized bio, but cooperated with Simpson, a classmate at England's Royal Air Force College in the '60s. "I simply had to use his name and doors would fly open," said Simpson, who interviewed George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, James Baker, Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell, among others. The reach of the man and the petrodollar oligarchy he represented is outlined in the book: Bandar advised Nancy Reagan on Cabinet appointments, hid defense contracts from Congress, secretly bought Chinese missiles, got the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan, brokered deals in the Gulf War.
Bandar, now the Saudi government's point man on the war on terror, was, alas, a no-show at the party. Unfortunately, most of his famous friends missed it as well, except for singer Roberta Flack, whom he often hired to perform. She's quoted in the book saying, "He is a hot number -- very sensual, very sexy. He can't help it; he was born a hunk." (What? You expected anything unflattering?)
Washington Post Book Review
"When historians search for a paradigmatic figure who embodied America's old, pre- 9/11 relationship with the Arab world, an obvious candidate will be Saudi Arabia's swaggering ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. He was the Gatsby of foreign affairs: entertaining Washington's elite at his mansion overlooking the Potomac; exchanging secret favors with a string of presidents."
A partial-in both senses-life of the Saudi diplomat and powerbroker dubbed “Bandar Bush.” “If you knew what we were really doing for America,” Prince Bandar once proclaimed, “you wouldn't just give us AWACS; you would give us nuclear weapons.”
Among the things he's done on our behalf: pushed for war with Saddam Hussein following the invasion of Kuwait; laundered money in Iran-Contra; engineered the ouster of several officials in the Reagan administration; brokered side deals with China that nearly plunged the Middle East into an apocalyptic war. All that, by fellow fighter-pilot trainee Simpson's account, can be written off to Machiavellian vicissitudes; otherwise, Bandar is a good guy, the kind of guy Thatcher could do business with and inside whose soul Dubya could peer approvingly.
An illegitimate scion of the royal family brought in from the cold, Bandar helped formulate the Saudi foreign policy that can be simplified thus: "The Communists are atheists; they don't believe in religion and we are fighting them for religious reasons." As such, be warned that this unofficial biography of an undoubtedly interesting fellow bears official stamps… Simpson's revelations, however, have use for readers seeking a view of how Washington really works.
Maximum Impact Public Relations, LLC by Max Pulsinelli
As the illegitimate son of a Saudi prince and a servant girl, Prince Bandar bin Sultan overcame his humble beginnings to become one of the world’s greatest behind-the-scenes powerbrokers. Through his political impact as the Saudi Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005-and his privileged position as a trusted confidant to some of the world’s most influential world leaders, including Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush-Bandar’s global reach has acquired an almost mythical status.
THE PRINCE (Regan, a Division of HarperCollinsPublishers; on sale October 17, 2006; ISBN: 9780060899868) by William Simpson, the first biography ever written on Prince Bandar, parts the veil of secrecy surrounding the man the New Yorker called “Washington’s indispensable operator”-putting these myths into perspective and context, and revealing for the first time the true story of the Prince behind the White House.
As the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar worked with CIA Director Bill Casey in covert CIA operations-such as more-or-less bankrolling the U.S. victory in the Cold War. THE PRINCE reveals how Bandar played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair, convinced Mikhail Gorbachev to get out of Afghanistan, shared a table with Nelson Mandela and Muammar Qaddafi to bring the Lockerbie bombers to justice, and helped negotiate an end to the Iran-Iraq war.
Shedding new light on the Prince’s dazzling rise from fighter pilot to powerful diplomat, Simpson explores Bandar’s invaluable contributions to Middle East and world peace-as well as recent controversies surrounding his name, such as his role in discreetly repatriating Saudi students and bin Laden family members after 9/11.
Simpson, a former classmate of Bandar’s at Britain’s Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, also illuminates the more personal side of this royal Saudi Arabian; popularly referred to as the “Arab Gatsby” for his debonair lifestyle (Bandar’s Aspen estate in Colorado was recently put on the market for $135 million), the Prince has spent his leisure time rooting for the Dallas Cowboys, fishing with the Bush family and playing racquetball with Colin Powell.
A riveting must-read for anyone interested in politics-and the intersection of American interests and foreign policymaking-THE PRINCE is the definitive work so far on this enigmatic yet influential man, THE PRINCE also features a 16-page full color insert and black and white photographs throughout the text, many of them never-before-seen, of Prince Bandar in his many roles: “Gatsby,” politician, and royal son, as well as in the company of some (often surprising) friends and associates.
Bandar: Royally popular - The Washington Times Published October 20, 2006
If current and former world leaders chose the next king of Saudi Arabia, Prince Bandar bin Sultan undoubtedly would win.
Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela count themselves among legions of fans who have worked with Prince Bandar, and each wrote an introduction to a new biography, "The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal." Neither made it in person to Tuesday's glitzy book-launching in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Prince Bandar also was a no-show, said to be busy at his new post as national security chief in Saudi Arabia since departing Washington after 25 years as his nation's ambassador.
The event did feature Mrs. Thatcher, however, on a flat-screen television in one corner of the foyer, praising the prince over and over on a video loop. Mr. Mandela sent a letter praising the book as an "overdue tribute." But will the prince be the first of his generation to succeed to the throne? Unlikely, said author William Simpson, a retired hedge-fund manager and, long before that, a classmate of Prince Bandar's at Britain's Royal Air Force College.
"If you look at the lineage, there's not a chance in hell," Mr. Simpson said, because the prince's mother was a "slave girl" whom his father never married.
That would disqualify Prince Bandar, despite his powerful father, Crown Prince Sultan. (King Abdul Aziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, had 43 sons, of whom five have held the throne.) Nevertheless, Prince Bandar exercises great influence within the Saudi royal family. "As secretary-general of the National Security Council, he reports directly to the king," Mr. Simpson explained.
If any diplomats from the Saudi Embassy showed up, they kept a low profile -- but the hall was full of lobbyists for the Saudi government, including top officials of Qorvis Communications, which was hired after September 11 to help with the kingdom's PR woes.
Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen made a brief appearance in a room notably lacking in boldfaced names. So did singer and Washington native Roberta Flack, who once called Prince Bandar "a gorgeous hunk of a man."
-- Willis Witter
Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
International Lawyer Coach Blog
Attention International Law and Diplomacy Aficionados:
New Book about Prince Bandar
Janet Moore, October 31, 2006
International lawyers who follow diplomatic developments will enjoy a newly released book about Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar, who served as the Saudi ambassador to the United State 1983-2005: The Prince: The Secret Story of the World’s Most Intriguing Royal: Prince Bandar Bin Sultan by William Simpson (2006 Harper Collins).
Last night I dined with the author (Bill Simpson) and learned about his friendship with Prince Bandar. As peers and fencing partners at the British Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Simpson and the Prince forged a close bond.
Simpson regaled us with stories of diplomatic intrigue from the book. He also explained why Prince Bandar has become such an accomplished international figure. The son of son of Crown Prince Sultan and a servant, Prince Bandar spent his early years living in primitive conditions, being raised solely by female relatives. Given that his beginnings were less auspicious than those of his fully royal half siblings, Bandar always worked hard to get his father’s approval. According to the author, this incredible drive has helped the Prince to excel in everything he does.
Simpson also credits Bandar’s having spent his early years exclusively among women of humble origins (in contrast to a traditional Saudi prince’s upbringing) for some of the Prince’s open mindedness and diplomatic talent.
The author was both charming and well spoken. He clearly knows Prince Bandar well, and in fact, Prince Bandar collaborated closely on the book. It’s next on my reading list.
Blackwell Books Online - About "The Prince."
A portrait of one of the most enigmatic yet influential powerbrokers in America - Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005.
For the last two and a half decades, the United States and Saudi Arabia have had a very special relationship - through war, oil crises, and global terrorism. At a time when understanding our friends is as important as knowing our enemies, understanding Prince Bandar bin Sultan may be the key to figuring out the Saudis. As the illegitimate son of a Saudi prince and a servant girl, Prince Bandar overcame his unrecognized beginnings to rise through the ranks of the Royal Saudi Air Force. Through his work with President Carter on the sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia and his vital behind-the-scenes help in getting the Panama Canal Treaty through Congress, Bandar became one of Saudi Arabia's brightest diplomatic stars - leading to his appointment as the Ambassador to the United States.
As Ambassador, Bandar worked with President Reagan and CIA Director Bill Casey to win the Cold War with Saudi petrodollars. Seemingly in the thick of some of the most important world events of the last twenty-five years, Bandar played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair; convinced President Gorbachev to withdraw the Soviet military from Afghanistan; and negotiated an end to the Iran-Iraq war among others. A Machiavellian manipulator and a master tactician on the global chessboard, Bandar has had unmatched access to the Oval Office. George H. W. Bush took The Prince and his family fishing; Nancy Reagan used him to convey messages to her husband's Cabinet; Colin Powell would drop by to play racquetball. During the Gulf War, Prince Bandar even became a de facto member of the National Security Council.
In this biography, William Simpson pulls back the curtain for the first time on the fascinating and startling life of a man of contradictions - equally at home in the royal palace in Riyadh as on the ski slopes of Aspen or playing hardball politics with international heads of state; a super-wealthy playboy yet a devoted family man; an expert in subterfuge and misdirection, yet a straight talker trusted the world over; a man of peace and yet the biggest arms dealer in the world - who emerged throughout the 1980s and '90s as one of the driving forces behind American foreign policy.
The Operator - Saudi Arabia's longtime ambassador sidled up close to Washington's elite -- perhaps too close.
Sunday, November 5, 2006; Page BW07
THE PRINCE: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal Prince Bandar bin Sultan
By William Simpson
Reviewed by David Ignatius
When historians search for a paradigmatic figure who embodied America's old, pre- 9/11 relationship with the Arab world, an obvious candidate will be Saudi Arabia's swaggering ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. He was the Gatsby of foreign affairs: entertaining Washington's elite at his mansion overlooking the Potomac; exchanging secret favors with a string of presidents from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush; lobbying for Saudi weapons purchases so effectively that he trounced even AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby group; operating as a deniable arm of the CIA in covert operations around the world...
Bandar's brash style was so mesmerizing that it could lead observers to forget the fundamentals. He was so American, with his big cigars and his hard-partying ways, that he made Americans think that Saudi Arabia must be as modern and cosmopolitan as Bandar himself...
What made Bandar so useful in the old days was that he really could walk between the two worlds. He appealed to Americans not just with his showy ways but also because, in Saudi terms, he was a parvenu. He was the illegitimate son of the Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan, and a concubine of African descent, and the rise of this handsome, dark-skinned man was as close as you could find in Saudi Arabia to the improbable rags-to-riches plotlines of "Vanity Fair" or "David Copperfield." And he was bold: Disdaining the traditional reticence of Saudi diplomats, he made himself into a kind of Arab James Bond -- meeting with the president in the Oval Office, then dashing off on a secret mission to Syria or Lebanon to negotiate a cease-fire or deliver a presidential message ... and then, when he returned, telling journalists the juicy details that added to the luster of his reputation...
Bandar accomplished what very few diplomats have in Washington over the past few decades: He became at once a master of the inside game and the outside game. He was a confidante of presidents, CIA directors and national security advisers, and he played them adeptly to ensure that Saudi interests were protected. But he could also go over the heads of these policymakers, to Congress and the American public, thanks to his wide contacts in the media. He understood how Israeli ambassadors had played the game, then bested them at it -- especially in his successful fights to win congressional approval of controversial sales of F15 fighters and AWACS radar planes to the kingdom in the 1980s...
In the years when Bandar's influence was at its peak, during Reagan's second term, the ambassador became a genuinely dangerous figure in his role as secret adviser to the first lady, Nancy Reagan. Bandar schemed to block the appointment of a prospective national security adviser he didn't like, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, and to engineer the appointment of his preferred choice, Robert C. McFarlane -- and then, when McFarlane crossed him, to send him into social and political exile. Bandar's behavior in these years was something out of the court of the Borgias or the Romanovs.
Copyright 2006 Washington Post Writers Group
